Power electronic devices formed from silicon, silicon carbide (SiC), and gallium nitride (GaN) semiconductors continue to evolve having ever increasing voltage and current switching capabilities. Such components have extensive use as motor drive converters from DC to DC and AC to DC; though the uses of these devices are many, impacting residential, commercial, aerospace, automotive, and many other product spaces not enumerated here.
The power electronics community often seeks to operate at the highest voltage and current level while minimizing size, weight and cost. As is axiomatic, electrical power is related to electrical current and voltage by the expression P=IV, where P=electrical power in Watts, I=electrical current in Amperes, and V=electrical potential in Volts. These power switches are usually triggered by logic integrated circuits coupled to power devices via a gate drive. This mode of operation is normally pursued so that the power (voltage and phase) to the load can be optimized for efficiency through the use of a central processing unit (CPU) or other computational device to continually adjust the “on” and “off” duty cycle. Time varied switching often occurs on the 1-10 ns times scales for SiC and GaN devices.